


What's Lost, Regained

by excited_ferret



Category: A Midsummer Night's Dream (National Theatre 2019), Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Regaining Memories, Reunions, The removal of love spells, love spells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:53:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21534763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/excited_ferret/pseuds/excited_ferret
Summary: A love charm is easily removed, but its effects aren't.
Relationships: Bottom/Oberon, Bottom/Oberon (Midsummer Night's Dream)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

A love charm is easily removed, but its effects aren't. Oberon knew this intellectually, but emotionally, he's only beginning to grapple with the effects of Titania's charm.

The charm was on him for a full night. That means a full night of loving Bottom, of admiring him, of a passionate desire to worship him body and soul. With the charm removed, the heat of Oberon's passion is gone, but the memories remain. He knows what they had together, what they _were_ together, and he longs for it.

Bottom is a mortal, and mortals have never been particularly difficult for Oberon to love. Bottom was particularly wonderful. He was adventurous and open-hearted (though Oberon will freely admit that having fairies at his command did go to Bottom's head a bit). Probably Titania enspelled him too.

Either way, it doesn't matter. Bottom will be like the other mortals, and stay far from the forest. It seems to frighten them once they have glimpsed the truth of it, that it's a place for fairy revels and magic. Mortals fear magic, and at the moment, Oberon isn't sure they aren't right to do so. Perhaps he should have feared magic a little more.

No. He wouldn't trade his night with Bottom for any amount of peace of mind.

Still, he misses his lover, and it is unfamiliar and painful for such a powerful creature as a fairy king to yearn for something he cannot have. He will have to let go of his fantasy, he knows, but for an immortal, that can take centuries.

Suddenly, one day, Bottom is there in his wood. During the daylight hours, Oberon watches him, unseen. Bottom seems to be looking for something, and he is not afraid. He even seems to feel more comfortable when night falls and Oberon comes to his full power. Oberon feels a sudden warmth for his brave little mortal.

Oberon can't be hurt by finding out what Bottom wants and why he's here. He wonders if Bottom will know him. He wonders if Titania has allowed him to remember anything.

Oberon squares his shoulders and becomes visible, stepping out of a shadow to speak to Bottom.

"Hail, mortal," he says.

Bottom looks up, and his heart is in his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Bottom is missing something.

The dream he was so sure of upon waking in the wood is faded now such that he can hardly describe it. It taunts him in flashes; he thinks he hears a familiar voice, or the way the light glitters on water puts him in mind of he knows not what. One day he goes to bathe, and for a shock of a moment he remembers loving eyes and champagne. And always, he finds himself drawn to the wood.

Bottom feels that if he could only follow the path these fragmentary moments illuminate, he could regain what he's lost. It was something precious, something important. He's sure it was important.

He tells Mistress Quince of this, and she frowns at him a moment before saying, "If something befell you in the wood, can you not return there?" Mistress Quince has always been extremely sensible. Bottom decides to try it, but he doesn't speak to any other friends of his plan. They wouldn't understand.

The daylight hours show him nothing. He goes traipsing round the wood, but all is strange and unfamiliar--too bright, with no mystery. Somehow it all looked different by moonlight. He thinks of returning to Athens, but something holds him where he is, and as it begins to grow dark, Bottom begins to relax. Here is the place he knows. He eats his dinner with his back to the trunk of a tree, and hasn't felt so happy since the Duke chose his play to be performed.

Something about the Duke reminds Bottom of someone. He wishes he could remember who it was.

Sleep is nearly ready to claim Bottom when he sees a silhouette approach and hears someone say, "Hail mortal." It is a voice he knows.

Bottom scrambles to his feet. "It's you."

The man steps into the moonlight, and Bottom feels a sudden relief surround him at the sight. Oberon--for Bottom suddenly remembers that Oberon is his name--looks just the same, his clothing rich and rare, but his demeanour is different. Bottom remembers him happy and amorous, but this Oberon is subdued, almost sad. "Why have you returned?"

"I was looking for you," Bottom says, and the minute he says it, he knows it's true.

Oberon steps closer, looking at Bottom with that intense regard that Bottom now remembers, as though he could see to his very heart. Bottom knows he is looking at Oberon the same way. "The enchantment is ended. You should not be here."

Bottom frowns. "Enchantment?"

Oberon looks pained. "Were you not enchanted to love me?"

Love. _Yes._ He knew it was something important.

"Never," Bottom says.

Oberon looks surprised, almost uncertain, and he wavers on his feet as though he wants to come closer but isn't sure he can. "You came to me of your own accord?"

"I came to you because I miss you," Bottom says.

That closes the distance between them, and Oberon's expression softens as he draws nearer still. They are almost touching now, the air between them as alive as a thunderstorm. "I have wanted to see you."

Bottom gives Oberon a cheery grin. "Surprise!"

Oberon looks above Bottom's head. "Your ears are gone."

"Yeah, I don't know what that was about," Bottom says. He dimly remembers that he had them, but not how he came to have them, nor how they were removed.

Oberon reaches out, his hand resting gently against the side of Bottom's face. "Never mind. I like you this way."

That feels important. "Good." He touches Oberon's hand. "Everything made me think of you."

Oberon nods, and Bottom knows he has seen this warmth in Oberon's gaze before. "And I of you."

They kiss as tenderly as if they were learning how, though Bottom remembers now that they have kissed before.

Bottom finally puts his finger on what's been bothering him. "You do look a bit like the Duke."

Oberon looks nonplussed.

"But not much," Bottom adds hurriedly. He'd hate to offend.

Oberon takes Bottom's hand. "Will you go with me?"

Bottom nods. "Anywhere you ask."

They walk together into the forest, into the starlight, and with his hand secure in Oberon's, Bottom knows he has finally found what was lost.


End file.
